Nous ou le paradoxe du hérisson: Muriel Imbach explores family at Avignon Festival

At the 80th Festival d'Avignon, Muriel Imbach presents 'Nous ou le paradoxe du hérisson', a theatre piece running from July 6 to 12 at Benoît XII, with an additional 5pm session from July 10 and a break on July 9. The show follows six performers—Coline Bardin, Pierre-Isaïe Duc, Linna Ibrahim, Cédric Leproust, Fred Ozier, and Selvi Pürro—who are roped together like explorers in a deep forest, each carrying symbolic objects (a water gourd, a potted plant). The title references the hedgehog paradox: the difficulty of finding the right distance between closeness and separation. The work, aimed at youth but open to all audiences, questions the evolving notion of family. Imbach developed the piece through extensive research, including interviews with professionals, workshops in schools, and meetings with children. The performance blends humor, tenderness, and vulnerability, presenting a poetic vision of a new society in construction.